We begin at a trash dump in Egypt, where we find Jesus, Satan, sissies, and porn. Next, a goat on a cow leads us to hundreds of old letters scattered on the side of Route 101. And lastly, a blood-sampling tour of Asia reveals a prolific baby-maker...and potentially a world conqueror.

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What can a 1,000 years worth of trash tell us about ancient human behavior? Dirk Obink, Director of research and professor of papyrology and classics at Oxford, tells us about the "mother lode" of 2,000 year old paper found in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt in 1896 by two Oxford graduate students , ...

Producer and gumshoe Laura Starecheski brings us along on a hunt that traverses the country, and time. The mystery to unravel? A box of old letters found on the side of the road by Erick Gordon. Git your teeth ready for a nail-bitin' chase through clues and suspects--a ...

By looking at our genes we can link ourselves to our parents, grandparents, and ancestors long long ago. Tatiana Zerjal and Chris Tyler Smith tell the tale of discovering the genetic relation of over 16 million men in Central Asia.

It is this type of reporting that perpetuates rape culture. I honestly don't care to hear about male lineage when the fact that so many women were destroyed from the inside out is simply overlooked! Come on guys, this is NOT a minor detail. Help get rid of this patriarchy nonsense and get more female voices on the show!

Pretty common knowledge,most conquerors has thousands of descendants. Half of Europe can claim Charlemagne as their distant relative,myself included..soooo...is this some thing new? no.....most folks with a basic knowledge of history know this...

Why in the world would you say that Ghegis Khan "slept with" the women he raped?? Would you say that about the rapes that happen in war these days? It's like the Japanese "comfort" women, or whatever they were called. But reporting it with no comment almost makes it sound legitimate. Right! Kill the men and "sleep with" the women!

Wow that was strange. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn't appear. Grrrr... well I'm not writing all that over again. Anyhow, just wanted to say excellent blog!

i heared the episode and these are stories seperated for those who cant\ dont want to listen to the whole thing at once, i figured. anyway, thank you people for producing this quality most interesting podcast.

What's the musical interlude at the end of the "greatest hits of ancient garbage" segment, before "Goat on a cow"-- sounds kind of like Steve Reich on zithers? Really neat musical piece, I'd like to hear more of it.

I loved this episode (particularly Goat on a Cow). MYSTERY! The heart of so many good stories. How great would it be to revisit this theme again (and perhaps even get listeners to ask everyone they know if they know of any good real-life detective stories?)...actually, this theme alone could be a program in itself...maybe one day I'll win the lottery and fund one.

Adam, you bring up a good point, however, what do we throw away today? Everything eventually gets into the garbage, newspapers, antiques, books, stuff we consider old but may have more value then we are aware of etc etc. Not all trash contains false information. I think that makes it part of the mystery. At the very least it opens up another point of view. As they say, the winner writes the history, maybe by looking in old trash we can open up a broader understanding of the past.